The Malachi 3:10 Money Test!

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All posts for the month December, 2014

Here is a sneak preview of how we did in 2014. I’m comparing my 2014 budget to my 2013 budget to see how we did. Going into 2014 we had $26,268.93 in all sorts of debt. Going into 2015 we are down to around 17795.39! That’s almost 10k in debt paid off! To think when we started this in 2013, we could barely afford to pay $25 extra a month toward paying off debt! God is good.

2013

2014

Difference

Comments

Income $61,352

Income $73,500

$1,2148.00

Woot! Income going up is always a good thing. I got a raise this year and Lindy took a seasonal supervisor position at her work so that is why it increased so much.

Income: Interest Income $7

Income: Interest Income $9

$2.00

Made $2 this year than last by doing nothing. Interest is my friend now.

Auto & Transport: Auto Insurance -$791

Auto & Transport: Auto Insurance -$829

-$38.00

Auto Insurance went up a little bit. Probably do to the ticket I got last year. I’m planning on switching this over to pay every 6 months rather than every month to save more money.

Auto & Transport: Gas & Fuel -$4,063

Auto & Transport: Gas & Fuel -$3,543

$520.00

Gas went down a lot at the end of this year. That helped us here. :P

Auto & Transport: New Car – NA

Auto & Transport: New Car -$200

-$200.00

We started to save for a new (used) car but then decided that paying off debt would be best.

Auto & Transport: Service & Parts -$294

Auto & Transport: Service & Parts -$1,138

-$844.00

Go Go Car Repairs. Oregon’s DEQ is the dumbest thing ever. Had to throw money at my car and Lindy’s to fix the check engine lights before we could get our tabs. We still have more work to do on Lindy’s car.

Bills & Utilities: Internet -$550

Bills & Utilities: Internet -$760

-$210.00

Internet bill went up a little. Still not too bad.

Bills & Utilities: Mobile Phone -$1,677

Bills & Utilities: Mobile Phone -$759

$918.00

Holy crap! Switch to Republic Wireless this year and saved a ton. I’m a fan of this.

Bills & Utilities: Television -$363

Bills & Utilities: Television -$1,055

-$692.00

I got some extra sports channels. I need to look at cutting back on this a bit.

Bills & Utilities: Utilities -$1,417

Bills & Utilities: Utilities -$1,196

$221.00

Some how our utilities went down. I’m guessing this is due to me turning down the heater this year (Sorry baby!)

Bills & Utilities: Web Hosting – -$117

Bills & Utilities: Web Hosting -$132

-$15.00

Same ole, Same ole.

Education: Student Loan -$3,481

Education: Student Loan -$6,705

-$3,224.00

Crushing the Student Loans! We doubled what we paid last year!

Entertainment: Apps -$142

Entertainment: Apps -$155

-$13.00

Same ole, Same ole.

Entertainment: Dates -$1,412

Entertainment: Dates -$1,277

$135.00

Spent a little less on dates. More like found more dates that cost less.

Entertainment: Event – Lindy -$25

Entertainment: Event – Lindy -NA

$25.00

This was a one time event last year.

Entertainment: Furniture -$28

Entertainment: Furniture -$222

-$194.00

We put $20 a month toward this fund. Lindy wanted a new vacuum so that’s why we have the increase.

Entertainment: General Expenses -$772

Entertainment: General Expenses -$2,036

-$1,264.00

Ouch… we need to do better about this next year.

Entertainment: Lindy allowance -$440

Entertainment: Lindy allowance -$769

-$329.00

This is skewed a little because she also has side hustles that add extra month into her allowance. But we did increase our allowance from $25 to $50 a month too.

Entertainment: Mick Allowance -$294

Entertainment: Mick Allowance -$2,974

-$2,680.00

Hello my allowance! This is skewed a lot because I keep track of my allowance stuffs seperately. So this doesn’t have my income from all my side hustles added in here. Right now, I’m only -$20 over my budget ;)

Entertainment: Rodeo -NA

Entertainment: Rodeo -$176

-$176.00

I think we put this in a different fund last year. Anywho, we purchased the tickets for a bunch of people and they paid us in cash. So that cash went to groceries I believe.

Entertainment: Singing Competition -$145

Entertainment: Singing Competition -NA

$145.00

My wife did not do this in 2014

Entertainment: Singing Lessons -$465

Entertainment: Singing Lessons -NA

$465.00

My wife did not do this in 2014

Entertainment: Sporting Events -$1,456

Entertainment: Sporting Events -$2,829

-$1,373.00

Definitely spent more this year. But this is really my only “hobby” so I don’t mind :P

Fees & Charges: Speeding Ticket -$260

Fees & Charges: Speeding Ticket -NA

$260.00

Yay! I met my goal of not getting a ticket this year!

Financial: Debt Killer -$6,009

Financial: Debt Killer -$917

$5,092.00

Debit Killer is what we used to pay off credit card debt. We killed the last of it off this year! Woot! That’s 5k we used to pay off loans!

Financial: General Savings -$900

Financial: General Savings -$2,107

-$1,207.00

Saved a bunch more this year! We are now saving $100 a month.

Financial: Lindy’s Ring -$690

Financial: Lindy’s Ring -$572

$118.00

No more ring debt. Done.

Financial: Prosper Loans -$2,233

Financial: Prosper Loans -$5,993

-$3,760.00

Doubled up on the personal loan debt too! I want to be out of debt by 2016.

Financial: Roth IRA -NA

Financial: Roth IRA -$120

-$120.00

Started throwing $10 a month into our Roth IRA. Not much but at least it is something.

Financial: Standard Stocks -NA

Financial: Standard Stocks -$10

-$10.00

Just started putting $10 a month into Standard Stocks too. Getting prepped to do this for next year :)

Financial: Tithe -$5,700

Financial: Tithe -$7,044

-$1,344.00

Income increased so tithe increased.

Food & Dining: Alcohol & Bars -$70

Food & Dining: Alcohol & Bars -$360

-$290.00

This year, I found Scotch. And it was good. And expensive.

Food & Dining: All Food/Coffee -$1,335

Food & Dining: All Food/Coffee -$1,290

$45.00

I feel like we ate out more this year and maybe we did, but we spent a little less. Not bad.

Food & Dining: Stims -$NA

Food & Dining: Stims -$266

-$266.00

We started budgeting for my zipfizz and my wife’s coffee. Gotta stay away on the night shift yo.

Food & Dining: Groceries -$3,820

Food & Dining: Groceries -$5,023

-$1,203.00

Groceries increased a bit. This should go back to normal next year.

Food & Dining: Mick’s Groceries -$68

Food & Dining: Mick’s Groceries -$401

-$333.00

I started buying more grocies for when I cook dinner.

Food & Dining: Take People Out -$305

Food & Dining: Take People Out -$448

-$143.00

Woot! We took more people out/hung out with more people this year.

Gifts & Donations: Charity -$476

Gifts & Donations: Charity -$456

$20.00

Same ole, Same ole. This is the child my wife has been sponsoring for years.

Gifts & Donations: Christmas Gifts $292

Gifts & Donations: Christmas Gifts -$618

-$326.00

Spent more on Christmas this year. Although this year, I also put our presents for each other into this budget.

Gifts & Donations: Gift -$1,693

Gifts & Donations: Gift -$1,299

$394.00

Less weddings, less wedding gifts, less spend on gifts ;)

Gifts & Donations: Trusting Jesus -$638

Gifts & Donations: Trusting Jesus -$1,761

-$1,123.00

I love this. Huge increase in our Trusting Jesus fund. I want us to continue to give away a little more each year.

Health & Fitness: Dentist -$128

Health & Fitness: Dentist -$70

$58.00

This budget was stopped after opening my HAS

Health & Fitness: Doctor -$742

Health & Fitness: Doctor -$12

$730.00

This budget was stopped after opening my HAS

Health & Fitness: Eyecare -$55

Health & Fitness: Eyecare -$43

$12.00

Not much here.

Home: Art -$50

Home: Art -NA

$50.00

We decided not to save for Artwork for our home, until we are out of debt.

Mick’s Furniture -$132

Mick’s Furniture -$65

$67.00

My furniture budget so I can by electronic gadgets we need. :) Saving for harddrives for a media server.

Home: Home Insurance -$227

Home: Home Insurance -$231

-$4.00

Same ole, same ole

Home: Mortgage & Rent -$6,860

Home: Mortgage & Rent -$11,230

-$4,370.00

Our rent went up this year… ouch…

Shopping: Clothing -$378

Shopping: Clothing -$511

-$133.00

Not too bad of an increase

Shopping: Cosmetics/Toiletries -$347

Shopping: Cosmetics/Toiletries -$555

-$208.00

We got electric toothbrushes that increased this amount a bit.

Shopping: Electronics & Software -$2

Shopping: Electronics & Software -$34

-$32.00

Xbox Live yo.

Transfer: Credit Card Payment -$899

Transfer: Credit Card Payment -NA

$899.00

No more credit card debt!

Transfer: Dummy Category -NA

Transfer: Dummy Category -$182

-$182.00

I made a mistake in Mint and it meant that we had $182 less than what we thought we had. So I created a dummy category to offset it. Because it’s not real and I’m a dummy.

Travel: Vacation -$1,138

Travel: Vacation -$2,811

-$1,673.00

Spent more on our vacation this year compared to last. We see it as the last hurrah before kiddos. We will be scaling back on this for 2015.